Police have identified a 31-year-old man who was killed in a three-vehicle collision Sunday (July 8, 2001) on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway in North Kona.

He was Steven Thomas Simmons, of a Kailua-Kona address. Simmons and Miriam Fernandez, 49, of Waimea, were killed in the accident, which took place at about the 90-mile marker.

Responding to a 4:28 p.m. call, Kona police reported that a 2000 Honda sedan driven by Georgette Fischer, 53, of Kailua-Kona, was traveling south on the highway when it tried to overtake another vehicle in a no-passing zone, crossed the centerline and collided with a vehicle being driven north by Fernandez. The Honda then struck a third vehicle being driven south by a 19-year-old Honokaa man, identified as Brandon Silva.

Simmons was a passenger in Fischer’s Honda sedan. Fischer was listed still in critical condition Monday at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.

Three passengers in the second car were also injured. They were taken to the Kona hospital, where two of the passengers, Michael Fernandez and Jeffrey Mattos were reported in stable condition. The third passenger Haaheo Fernandez was reported in fair condition.

Three passengers in Silva’s car escaped injury.

Police have initiated two negligent homicide, one driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and three negligent injury cases.

Sunday’s deaths were the 17th and 18th traffic fatalities so far this year on the Big Island, compared to 20 at the same time last year.